At dawn on the morning of April 19th, 1775, the Lexington
Minutemen, far outnumbered, exchanged
shots with British regulars on Lexington Green. Minutemen fell wounded and dead, and the British advance toward Concord and Colonel Barrett's farm, said to hold an illegal
arms cache, continued.

As a British task force returned from Colonel Barrett's farm over the North Bridge (map) next to the Old Manse, they were met by Minuteman companies
from Concord and
the neighboring towns of Acton, Bedford and Lincoln. Shots rang out, the Minutemen advanced, the British retreated and, victorious, the Minutemen harrassed the king's redcoats all the way back to Boston. More...

Every visitor to Concord makes the patriotic pilgrimage
to the Old
North Bridge, walking from the parking lot down the tree-shaded earthen road to the
small obelisk at the near end of the bridge, dedicated on July 4, 1837.
Look to the left: in the stone wall is a memorial
stone for the British soldiers killed and wounded in the fight here.

Cross the bridge over the Concord
River to
the far side to see Daniel
Chester French's first important
statue: The Minute Man. (French
later sculpted the "Seated Lincoln" for
the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.)

On the
statue's plinth is the first stanza of Emerson's
famous Concord
Hymn:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard 'round the world.

Beyond the statue, follow the gravel path uphill through the meadow
to the Buttrick
Mansion,
now a National Park visitor center and
shop.

Old Manse & Barrett's Farm

Right next to Old North Bridge is the Old
Manse, historic
home to the Emerson clan and, for a short time,
to author newlywed Nathaniel
Hawthorne and his bride, Sophia. More...